GREENWOOD/RUMFORD – Ryan Fitzsimons of Leavitt was the first skier to tumble across the headwall during the Class A boys’ Alpine race at Mount Abram, which seemingly spelled the end of the Hornets’ chances in the event.
The next victim from a top-contending team, however, was sophomore Sam Armstrong of Edward Little. Then Devin Feriera of Mt. Blue slipped enough to slow him down considerably, as did his teammates Curtis Steele and Peter Smith.
Throw in a late disqualification to the then-leading Cheverus Stags’ fourth skier, and suddenly all of the teams with fallen skiers were back in the race.
Windham High School, which came out of the giant slalom unscathed as far as falls are concerned, snagged the lead on the first day of alpine competition in the Class A state championships at Mt. Abram on Tuesday with 71 points, but the list of teams behind it is long and distinguished, including Mt. Blue (73), Leavitt (74) and Edward Little (74).
“We’re actually a better slalom team,” said Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr. “Hopefully (today), we can recover a little bit.”
“We went into the day with a game plan of skiing conservative at the top and letting it go at the bottom,” said EL coach Tara Eretzian.
“When Sam fell, I didn’t tell anyone else at the top so the next three guys finished.”
Two skiers who did stay on their feet for two solid runs – Edward Little’s Tyler Dorris and Cheverus’ Alexander Markello – put on quite a show for spectators in a duel for a gold medal. Dorris set a high standard with a 49.61-second run in his first attempt, only to watch as Markello did the same run in 49 seconds flat.
On the skiers’ second trip, Dorris bettered his first run, but Markello held tough enough to hang on to a 1.02-second victory.
Over at Black Mountain later in the afternoon, the Leavitt Nordic team stared in wide-eyed amazement at its Alpine brethren’s accomplishments with a salivating grin. With success on the hill, an overall title was well within their reach.
The boys backed up a solid Alpine run with a 23-point win over Mt. Blue on the Rumford trails and put the Hornets in front of the Cougars in the overall competition by 22 points, 101-123.
Mike Lessard and Justin Fereshetian finished 3-4 for Leavitt in the team’s win, following a pair of Messalonskee skiers – Nils Koons and Sam Mathes – to the line. Koons and Mathes were the only two skiers to crack the 12-minute barrier on the redesigned course.
Edward Little took a ghost place as its fourth Nordic skier, and with it a fourth-place overall standing behind Oxford Hills in third. The Vikings are currently second in the Nordic race, scoring 44 points, putting them 17 back of Leavitt going into Thursday’s classical race.
Mt. Blue, Leavitt girls lead
Before the boys even got onto the hill at Mt. Abram on Tuesday, the girls had a crack at the same course.
Abby Martin, Mt. Blue’s second skier, suffered a fate similar to so many of the boys, but on the team front, there was one major difference.
“It wasn’t such a big deal to fall,” said Martin. “I know we have enough depth if I fall to still do well.”
Martin wasn’t kidding. Teammate Tory Gray won the girls’ giant slalom, while Heidi Judkins and Kyle Cyr finished 5-6 to lead the Cougars (36 points) comfortably into first place in the Class A Alpine competition Tuesday. Oxford Hills and Skowhegan share second with 64 points each, followed by Leavitt and Lake Region.
“We were all kind of hoping we’d win,” said Gray. “I think we all knew we had to finish the second run and not really go all out at all. It put the pressure on a bit.”
At Black Mountain, the Cougars were pulling off a surprise of their own. Rebecca Shoen, Lisa Hartung and Meredith Allen all placed in the top 10 and came within one point of Leavitt in the Nordic freestyle race.
“Lauren Fereshetian (who finished third Tuesday) is really good, so I am going to have to try and beat her (Thursday),” said Schoen. “We need to close the gap some more between me and our fourth skier if we want to catch up (Thursday).”
Individually, Mandy Ivey of Oxford Hills blew away the rest of the Nordic field. She “felt really good” before her race, and after posting a time of 13:20.9, she felt even better.
“Man that was a good race,” Ivey said. “I felt like I was really flying.”
Ivey was 1:40 faster than Schoen, who finished second.
Back at Mt. Abram, Jillian Bolduc and Nicole Bussiere of Lewiston, who ski independently since Lewiston High School has no team, posted top-15 finishes as well. Bolduc cracked the top 10, placing seventh, while Bussiere placed 14th.
“This is exciting for us,” said Bolduc. “Nicole’s done really well this year, too. We’ve both done a lot better than last year.”
Both skiers train with Edward Little during the season.
“They take care of us really well,” said Bolduc.
Class A’s Alpine competition wraps up today at Mt. Abram with the slalom, while the Nordic teams will decide their championship and the overall title at Black Mountain on Thursday.
Class C roundup
Danielle Therrien of Livermore Falls edged Kaitlyn Pelletier of Madawaska to claim first place in the Class C girls’ slalom event at Sunday River on Tuesday, leading the Andies to a six-point win over Fort Kent in the event. The Andies’ team score Tuesday also gave them a share of second place in the combined Alpine events. Fort Kent and Livermore Falls tied with 89 points, 11 back of front-running Freeport. The Falcons slipped a bit in the slalom, but held on to win the Alpine title.
On the boys’ side, Freeport also held onto a lead. Winthrop took the slalom Tuesday by five points, but the Falcons still won by 27 total points. Stephen Scotti of Telstar won the event, while Joel Walker, John Dennett, Christian Burke and Forrest Dwyer of Winthrop all finished in the top 11. Jay stumbled Tuesday in the slalom and slipped to fourth overall in Alpine.
Class C will complete its racing today with the classical Nordic race at Black Mountain.
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